Explaining the Black-White Gap in Labor Force Participation among Women Heading Households

Datos Bibliográficos

ID5251978
AutoresI Browne (0000-0001-9042-4090, Emory University, autor de correspondencia)
Año1997
Volumen62
Número2
Páginas236
Fecha de publicación1997-04-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessNo
TipoARTICLE
RevistaAmerican Sociological Review (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0003-1224 • E-ISSN: 1939-8271
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.2307/2657302
OpenAlexW2047037261
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas46
Referencias citadas18

For the first time in this century, Black women are participating in the labor force at lower rates than are White women. The Black-White gap in female labor force participation is driven by those in the severest need of income-women heading households. I compare three explanations of the Black-White gap in labor force participation among female household heads-lack of human capital, lack of opportunities resulting from industrial restructuring, and disarticulation from mainstream institutions as described by theories of the underclass. Using a representative national sample from the Panel Study of Income Dynamics, I find that lower rates of labor force participation among Black women heading households are determined by Black-White differences in human capital as well as by characteristics associated with a breakdown in the processes linking Black women to the labor market. Overall, the largest impediments to labor force participation among women heading households are dropping out of high school, having a child under the age of six in the household, and being a long-term welfare recipient

Black women · Demographic economics · Economics · Geodesy · Geography · Heading (navigation · Labour economics · Political science · Sociology · White (mutation · Financial Literacy, Pension, Retirement Analysis · Gender Studies · Gender, Labor, and Family Dynamics · Urban, Neighborhood, and Segregation Studies